An op-ed written by attorney Ed Martin, president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, and published by The Hill.com, sheds light on a ballot initiative in Ohio which, if passed, will close the door on parental rights and set a dangerous precedent across the country. At issue is a pro-abortion amendment to the Ohio constitution that opponents say “would outlaw virtually any restrictions on abortion and all other procedures, including sex-change surgeries, that touch on reproduction, for both adults and minors. It would cancel out not only parental-consent laws but also mere parental notification for minors’ abortions or sex-change surgeries....”

Martin points out that the Biden Administration “is leading the charge” in the ideological campaign “to push parents out of fundamental decisions involving their children and thus to destroy parental rights,” citing Biden’s familiar quote: “There is no such thing as someone else’s child. Our nation’s children are all our children.” He noted that similar references have been made by Vice President Harris and White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre that “American children are our children. They belong to all of us.”

Martin’s article calls out the false notion that “government should play the role of parents” as one that “most people reject,” and cautioned that despite this, “radicals across our country are working to nullify existing parental consent laws and to stop parental involvement in some of the most consequential life decisions children can make.”

The Ohio ballot initiative was introduced by the ACLU and United for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE) and, as Martin describes, “heavily financed by left-leaning, dark-money groups, including the New Venture Fund, Planned Parenthood, and others. These groups stand to benefit both financially and ideologically when parents are eliminated from the picture and the government becomes the primary influence in a child’s life.” He concluded that “under the guise of ‘reproductive rights,’ it will end parental involvement in children’s decisions to seek abortions or sex-change surgeries.”

“The ACLU has been waging war against parents for decades,” Martin wrote, “by challenging parental consent and notification laws for abortion in states such as Alaska and Indiana. They’ve extended their anti-parent agenda to the classroom, fighting against parents who want to be informed if their child is grappling with their sexuality or gender.”

He added that URGE “has publicly called for the abolition of existing parental rights laws.”

Taking a ‘Stand’

Suzanne Bowdey, a writer for The Washington Stand, concurs with Martin. In a July 11 article, Bowdey opined that “parents are desperately hoping” the “dangerous late-term abortion amendment with the transgender loophole” proves unsuccessful. “If it passes,” she wrote, “Ohio moms and dads will have zero say over their children’s abortions or bodily mutilation.”

Bowdey quoted Aaron Baer, president of Ohio’s Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), who warns that the new leftist strategy since the Dobbs decision is to ferociously “attack” the states “to add radical, late-term abortion language” to their constitutions.

• And in Ohio, the language is so broad that it would extend to wildly unpopular transgender procedures too — giving minors absolute autonomy over their bodies. Like they’ve done in other states, extremists are trying to undermine the Republican pro-life majorities in the legislatures by going directly to the people — a tactic that critics warn is changing the country’s most sacred documents by mob rule.

Bowdey observed that Ohio’s constitution is an easy target for activists because “it only takes 50% of the vote to alter the state’s most important document.” Even so, Protect Women Ohio, an organization that opposes the amendment, says it is so unpopular with voters that “national groups had to pay people to knock on doors.” Undercover videos even show signature gatherers talking about accepting invalid names to get more money.

Fortunately, conservatives in the state legislature recognized what was coming and planned a counteroffensive in the form of a special election (Issue 1) scheduled for August 8. “A ‘yes’ vote,” wrote Bowdey, “would take three major steps to stop the abortion and transgender mob”:

• 1) it would raise the threshold needed to alter the Ohio constitution from 50% to 60%; 2) it would require that all 88 counties submit signatures in favor of any proposed amendment (not half as it stands now); and 3) it would do away with the 10-day “cure” period to replace and correct signatures, a provision that critics say has been abused in recent years.

CCV’s Baer pointed out that Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and others are pouring tens of millions of dollars into this Buckeye crusade, which could be the biggest confrontation over abortion in 2023. “We can’t overstate it enough,” he said. “There is a very direct tie between a ‘yes’ vote on August 8 and protecting life in the state of Ohio.”

Despite the heartbeat law already on the books, which is currently being blocked by the courts, once something is enshrined in a state’s constitution, it supersedes all other laws.

But while the battle in Ohio is focused on abortion, it is also about the right of parents to raise the children who are already born. As Ed Martin wrote, “parents should have access to information about their own children. They have a right to be closely involved in day-to-day decisions regarding their education and health, among other things. Parents are best positioned to direct their children’s course, to provide them with love, and to ensure their well-being.

“The government is not and never will be an appropriate substitute.”

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